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Thursday, 7 April 2016

Georgia on my mind

Given the paucity of Italy’s performances during the 2016 Six Nations, there have been calls to introduce an element of promotion/relegation to/from the championship, either automatically or via a play off.

Georgia, in particular, are considered worthy of a chance to join Europe’s elite rugby competition, given their dominance of the European Nations Championship in recent years.

I, for one, would welcome Georgia’s integration into the Six Nations but I do query why it would be necessary to relegate one of the established nations?

Why not evolve the competition into 7 Nations?

Yes, there may be issues with the calendar and the fixture list, but it can’t be beyond the wit of man, or even of rugby administrators, to find a workable solution.

A first step would be for the established six countries to start including Georgia regularly in their fixture lists, possibly in November, with a view to accepting the Georgians into the fold in due course. After all, that is what happened with Italy.